Understanding Hospice and Palliative Care• This presentation is

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Understanding Hospice and Palliative Care(Add your organization’s name and contact information here – and your logo if you like.)

Fact

25% of deaths occur at home - more than 80% of Americans would prefer

to die at home.

Hospice Care

• Provides support and care for those in the last phases of life-limiting illness.

• Recognizes dying as part of the normal process of living.

• Affirms life and neither hastens nor postpones death.

• Focuses on quality of life for individuals and their family caregivers.

Core Aspectsof Hospice Care

• Patient/family focused • Interdisciplinary team care• Provides a range of services:• Interdisciplinary case management• Pharmaceuticals• Durable medical equipment• Supplies• Volunteers• Grief support

Additional Services

Hospices offer additional services, including:•Hospice residential care (facility)•Inpatient hospice care•Palliative care •Complementary therapies•Specialized pediatric team•Caregiver training•Community bereavement services

Hospice Team Members

• The patient's personal physician• Hospice physician (medical director)• Nurses• Home health aides• Social workers• Clergy or other counselors• Speech, physical, and occupational therapists• Trained volunteers

Work of the Hospice Team

• Develops the plan of care • Manages pain and symptoms• Attends to the emotional, psychosocial and

spiritual aspects of dying and caregiving• Teaches the family how to provide care • Advocates for the patient and family• Provides bereavement care and counseling

Where is Hospice Provided?

• Home – the patient’s or loved one’s home• Nursing Facility• Assisted Living Facility• Hospital• Hospice residence or unit• Correctional setting, homeless shelter –

wherever the person is located

Who Pays?

• Medicare • Medicaid • Insurance and HMOs• Private pay• Sometimes a combination of these…

Admission Criteria

To qualify for hospice care, these are the general requirements:•Life-limiting illness, prognosis is 6 months or less if the disease takes normal course•Live in service area•Consent to accept services•Forgo other medical interventions for the terminal illness

What is Palliative Care?

• Treatment that enhances comfort and improves the quality of an individual’s life who is facing a serious illness but may not quality for hospice care.

• The expected outcome is relief from distressing symptoms, the easing of pain, and/or enhancing the quality of life.

Kinds of CareCurative Care: •Focuses on a cure to an illness and the prolonging of life.Palliative Care:•Focuses on comfort and quality of life that may be provided with other treatments.Hospice Care:•Focuses on comfort and quality of life when a cure is not possible with specialize care and services.

Resources in our Community

[List resources that can include your organization and others…]

Online Resources

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization offers some useful online resources with free materials.•www.CaringInfo.org – with tools to help with advance care planning, caregiving and grief.•www.MomentsofLife.org – shows the many benefits of hospice care through real videos, stories and more.

QUESTIONS?

THANK YOU!